@BreakfastClub1 I like your intel better than mine! I just wish all of the staff there was sending the same message (unless of course, they were gently telling me that my son specifically did not make the cut). Wishing everyone the best of luck.
@H0llyw00d Could be the same for my S, too. Who knows
@BreakfastClub1 Fingers crossed for both of our boys.
@BreakfastClub1 I’m also wondering if your contact was speaking to In-State awards and not Out of State/National Buckeye.
@H0llyw00d The person knows we are in-state. I will say that S didn’t get his Scholars app request until 2/1 which seems late compared to many others. No merit notice, yet. This year, I’ve read where many are getting honors 1st & waiting on merit or vise versa. It does not seem consistent across the board.
do you think we will get notified if we dont get any merit?
@collegeeeee3 From past experience, customarily they do not send an information stating that you did NOT receive a merit award. You can email/call to confirm.
@Brownsl You didn’t state what your son’s ACT score was. If that was a little lower it may be why your son got Provost instead of Maximus. Also, the web site doesn’t state any hard criteria, so just like the admissions office you really don’t know EXACTLY what they are looking for.
My son only submitted SAT.
What I find frustrating is that it appears most large state schools focus on providing merit scholarships to their in-state residents with the argument being that the state’s tax dollars go to support the school so most merit scholarships should go to their residents. Hard to argue against that; however, I wonder how accurate that is as it seems a lot of states have been steadily reducing their funding. Ohio State on the other hand seems to take the opposite approach with in part the National Buckeye scholarship, providing more merit money to OOS students. Living in Ohio I know we get the in-state tuition rate but the other state schools also have in-state tuition. Of course, I have no hard numbers to support this perception so it may be inaccurate.
@Brownsl Last year, S1 was eligible (based on the OSU chart) for Provost but received Trustees. Of course, the chart is nothing more than a guide of those who are ‘considered’. This year, S2 is DA in Fisher and has been accepted to his preferred Scholars LLC and has not heard about any merit. He would be housed in one of the newer dorms so that is worth $ too me.
I found the article out of Columbus interesting with their 5-year plan. No matter what, in-state tuition compared to other publics is low and still a great deal for us in-state.
As an OOS parent, I have to say that The Ohio State University as well Miami University are extremely generous when it comes to OOS merit. These are both highly ranked and reputable institutions where great stats will get you some form of merit. Other schools require almost perfect stats to get any form or merit.
I would never disagree with the instate vs out of state argument, but I like the fact that an institution offers a good amount of merit to excellent OOS students . In many cases, the discount (merit) makes the cost of attendance above instate tuition. I think it is a win win situation. It makes an OOS school somewhat of an affordable option. It creates geographical diversity, and the school gets the extra money that it would have never gotten to begin with…
So many kids from around here apply to Michigan, Wisconsin, etc only to find out that they are just not affordable options. Homework should have been done prior to applying. Lots of good schools offer a good amount of merit to OOS students. Both of these schools make the list as well as South Carolina, FSU, Alabama, etc…
Looking forward to being a Buckeye parent. For all those waiting. I really hope some form of merit comes through.
@Boomer1964 I agree with everything you said. I think the hardest part (for me personally) is not knowing why a kid with a 32 on their ACT and a 3.75 GPA who was accepted into Scholars and shown significant interest in the University would not be selected for National Buckeye over students with lower stats. Trust me; I know the answer is just that life isn’t fair and I see this happening to so many students across all universities. It is just so hard to reconcile when your top choice OOS school is pretty much the only one of almost a dozen schools that chose not to award merit to a student.
@H0llyw00d Wow those are great stats for sure and I would think that you would be able to get you some merit… Perhaps the fall on that category of “By late March” Sometimes it can come down to the essay or how competitive the pool of applicants from your school or area. Strength of classes. It is hard to say. I can tell you that my D applied to a few schools which as of today has not received any merit even though she was accepted as early as October. However, a number of other schools did offer you a good amount of merit and I believe she would have been OK with a few of these as well. Keep in mind that there was a reason why you applied to a bunch of schools… As much as you liked OSU above the others, I bet you have some great options as well.
But hang in there. There is still a little bit of time.
@Boomer1964 Thank you, and I hope you are right and he’s in the late March group. He has honors, AP’s, college/IB classes, leadership, extracurriculars, etc. He does have some other great choices, and in my heart, I know he’ll end up where he is supposed to be. He’s worked so hard and deserves to be at a school which shows him some love.
I wish everyone good luck with this process. It indeed is a daunting one!
@H0llyw00d Not of what your in State school might be, but based on some of your postings, you have been able to get into Penn State, Maryland, Delaware, Florida among others. A pretty good bunch for sure. Not sure if these schools offered any merit, but a lot of good schools for sure… As I said, hopefully OSU will come through in the next couple of weeks.
@Boomer1964 Yes, those are some of the schools, most of which have given him merit. Thanks again!
I double checked that all merit decisions were released at the end of February, so those of us who haven’t heard are not receiving merit. There is no appeal process and money recouped from students who decline their invitation for admission will not become available to other students. 
@H0llyw00d Hopefully that is not the case… but if so, I am so sorry to hear that. You are sitting on some pretty good options as well… This the first go around for us, but I heard that many of the students who for whatever reason do not end up going to their first choice school, they go on to absolutely love their schools. All the schools on your list have a similar strengths and vibes to OSU… Hopefully you will still get some news in the next couple of weeks
I emailed someone about merit scholarships (last Thursday) and they said that the scholarships would be announced via mail in the coming 7-10 days. I’m in state, but surely that shouldn’t make a difference on when I receive notice of scholarship money as opposed to someone out of state. Sorry to be so critical, but I would really like to hear when/how you got your information.
My son received offer mid-Dec and National Buckeye Scholarship in Feb. We’re from Cali and visiting tOSU for first time in April. OhioState, UIUC, University of Miami (not Miami Ohio), and Univ of Maryland are on his short list, although he’s still waiting for answers from other universities. His counselor said he should receive an offer from UCSB, but who knows, the admissions process is a mystery to me.
So - to those of you out there who are familiar tOSU, what’s important for him to know about being a Buckeye? He loves OSU football, the famous Buckeye school spirit, and that OSU a big state university. OSU is the ONLY school from which he has rec’d two personal phone calls from admissions office congratulating him, and, later, inviting him to local event for Cali admits. I’m so impressed. He receives a mailing or email at least once a week. The head of econ dept also sent a welcome letter. I can’t believe how personal the AdComm is for a school of 60,000. So far, tOSU has made him feel very welcomed and really excited.
No one from my son’s small, private high school applied to OSU and there are no recent OSU alumni who attended my son’s hs; so we don’t have much info on a personal level about it. Any OSU alum from Cali able to let us know how you adjusted to the winter weather? Any feedback, info, etc would really be appreciated. Thanks so much!